Hacker News Reader

Comment by ams6110 | Hacker News Reader

I'm really struggling to see the need for a government postal service any longer. Compared to 20 years ago, 95% of what I would get in the mail is now delivered electronically. All my bills are paid electronically. I haven't sent a letter via post in recent memory. What I do get delivered by the postal service is frequently mis-delivered. I get first-class mail addresed to my neighbors at least a couple of times a month. Who knows how much of my mail simply disappears? The rest of my mail is junk: adverts and flyers that go straight into the trash, unread.

View on HN

Package delivery by USPS is cheap and reliable, e.g. for 3rd-party online sellers.

Cheap yes, reliable no. Last time I ordered from Amazon I had to go looking for it in my neighbor's mailboxes (technically illegal for me to do that, but Amazon told me it had been delivered and yet it was not in my mailbox).

Found it two houses down from mine.

I've had horror stories no matter WHAT delivery service makes an attempt. Even those automated lockers are seriously annoying (mostly because there aren't enough of them).

I'm actually slightly amazed that the local mall doesn't talk to the various delivery companies and just "give" them an unused store front to setup an automated box for every company inside of it. I imagine the increase in traffic TO the mall would more than make up for the loss of otherwise unused dead space.

Interesting idea, but I don't think it would need to be an entire storefront. I've been to plenty of malls with entranceways that are lined with long, blank, feature-free walls. Lots of lockers could be in those places.

FedEx did the same thing with $5,000 of Apple gear for me.

In my area, USPS is by far the best carrier for parcels, especially for residential delivery.

Having a reasonably well run, national organization with an obligation to serve every home and business is a wonderful thing.

FedEx did it with 15,000$ worth of apple gear for me.

Seriously, what driver would think it's appropriate to leave a bunch of imac pro boxes with a (thankfully in my case good natured) neighbour?

Has been reliable in large city, for hundreds of package deliveries, usually faster than UPS.

It's a thin justification, but the IRS still sends a lot of correspondence via USPS that they're not allowed to send in other ways. And taxes can still be received at the post office up until the filing deadline. The IRS has come a long ways with eFile, but it's still not universal. So the USPS needs to exist, if only to support the government's current revenue collection mechanisms.

Only until the Legislature or Executive chooses to change those arbitrary rules. They could choose a new delivery partner (or multiple, subject to open access criteria they designate)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com